Top 10 Worst parts of the Mass Effect Series part 1
Happy N7 day everyone. In honor of the day, I decided to do a ranking of some of the things in one my favorite video games series, Mass Effect.
I am going to start with the stuff I like the least, and within the next couple of days (hopefully tomorrow or late tonight) will have the list up of things I like the best. Normally I would do the Best list first (since I am celebrating the series) but I realized in this case, much of what I like in this series is due to comparisons to what I dislike, and I figured it would didnt have to explain what I didnt like in the post of what I liked if I did the dislike list first. So with that in mind...here we go
This list will run from 10 (thing I disliked the least) to 1 (worst thing ever)
10. Saren's appearance. Mass Effect
Alright so this is a small thing, but one that bugged the fuck out of me during Mass Effect. During the whole run of the game Saren appears to be half cyborg….and no one ever comments on it or talks about it. Until near the end of the game, when Saren mentions he’s been “upgraded” by Sovereign (and as an implied result fully indoctrinated) and made a organic/inorganic hybrid.
The thing is…..he looks EXACTLY the same as he always did in the game. Yet according to the dialogue hes supposed to have been visibly changed. Near as I can tell, his “usual” appearance was likely supposed to be his “end game appearance” (at least before he gets fully teched in the very last battle). Meaning he wasn’t supposed to look like a cyborg prior to this.
But for whatever reason, graphical constraints, bugs ect…his “end game” appearance got used for every appearance in the game. Whatever the reason its is kinda obnoxious since it means the game’s visuals don’t match the story, and also it leaves a visual plot hole/spoiler that didn’t make sense
9. Admiral Anderson/Counselor Udina Mass Effect 3
Another actually small issue here. Mass effect is supposed to be all about the lasting consequences of your choices.
Yet here we are, minutes into mass effect 3, and they already undid to final choice of mass effect 1 (assuming you, like most people, chose Anderson. And as a side note, even renegades really have no reason to put Udina on there, since they likely want payback for him stabbing them in the back just prior to the end of the game)….and its NEVER addressed in the game (well except for a single sentence in Anderson’s codex entry….but you have to actually READ the codex to find that…something that most people who imported a save likely wouldn’t need to do).
And the worst part is, it didn’t have to be done, and arguably hurt the game’s plot because it was.
Ok so in the real world a lot of political figures hold military equivalency ranks, meaning their position is treated as X rank by the military same could be true here. It’s not at all unbelievable that a Galactic Counselor holds the rank of Admiral. Furthermore in Andersons case as a legit war hero, its believable people would treat it seriously if he used the rank.
Finally, having a Counselor trapped on Earth would give the other council races much more motivation for helping take earth back (over say any other world) then is ever given in the game.
And heck, it actually makes more sense for Ambassador Udina to ally with Cerberus, figuring he can use the chaos of the coup to take Andersons spot on the council (especially if he believes hes supposed to “save” the council and isn’t aware the assassination attempt is real), and thereby gain power, than it ever did for Counselor Udina to do it.
But you know, I guess destroying your final choice in ME1 was easier than adding to the 2 lines of dialogue that might be needed to explain why everyone would be referring to Counselor Anderson as Admiral
8. Planet scanning. Mass Effect 2
Anyone who’s played Mass Effect 2 already agrees with me on this one. NO ONE liked having to scan the planets…and even if you fully scanned and probed all of them, you couldn’t even do jack shit with the minerals you got after building the few upgrades that needed them (and you could mine enough minerals to cover that in just a few systems). Total and utter waste of time.
7. Timeline. Mass Effect Series
So this is kind of a structural problem throughout mass effect . Bioware didn’t actually give themselves enough time in their own time line for anything to really make sense the way they wanted it to.
Consider, its been less than 40 years since humanities first contact to the start of Mass Effect 1.
Put another way….its been less than 1 Salarian lifetime (to say nothing of say Asari or Krogan lifespan comparisons).
So actually it kinda makes sense why all the other species think humanity is uppity for demanding a counsel spot…we just got here. And hell, we are also one of the least technologically developed species in the universe….all the tech in the game was based on tech by other species. So yea, when they really distain us in ME1 for being arrogant….they have a damn point.
Which is also odd, since almost every single human character acts like they have been comfortable with using this tech, and with being in space their entire lives. Consider for example, who apparently was able to found a mercenary gang that basically runs half the crime in space…and the gang was able to achieve this on what would have basically been our first day in space.
Ditto guys like Anderson and Hackett…who both seem to have no issue or memory of a time when aliens weren’t always there. Or well pretty much everyone, as it appears everyone has a omitool and translator embedded in their skins from birth…..apparently all humans accepted that instantly. Not to mention some other issues. For example, Shepard was born 3 years before the First Contact war, and just 4 years after the discovery of the Mass Relays……which makes things a bit odd if your background was Spacer or Colonist…its not believable that either would exist that fast.
Speaking of humans spreading…..how the fuck did they get EVERYWHERE that fast. You never visit a planet that doesn’t have a lot of humans on it at any point in the games.
Consider, the time between first contact and mass effect 1, is roughly the same as the time between the invention of the internet and the present day. In the present day, something like 15% of americans don’t have internet access.
yet somehow in that same time frame we have fucking colonized everything in space?
Honestly this is a just a bit too much of a stretch. Bioware would have been much better served to have added a few centuries between first contact and ME1. Humanity still would have been the galactic newcomers but the idea of everything accepting a multi race galaxy as the way it has always been…and the spread of humanity to fucking everywhere, would have made more sense
6. Loss/refusal of full spectre reinstatement. Mass Effect 2
Alright so in Mass Effect 2 you can choose to attempt to have your spectre status reinstanted….and you can possibly fail depending on the choices you made.
Problem is, this kinda makes no sense. Consider the other known specters in the game. Saren and Nihlus both are revealed to have intentionally created situations in which they placed innocents at risk and/or killed them to complete a mission. Hell the first ever Spectre was picked because he was a mass murders. Then Lair of the Shadow Broker introduces Tela Vasir, who is basically a Spectre who is semi openly working as an assassin for hire for the shadow broker…and kills a bunch of innocent people.
Yet my spectre status isn’t reinstated because I may have decided to conserve my fleet strength to attack Sovereign….even though doing so sacrificed the innocent member’s of the council?
WHAT? I basically did EXACTLY what every other spectre did….this makes NO SENSE at all.
Like I would get it if the whole “being dead” thing was the hang up…its not.
And even if you get reinstated, it doesn’t seem to matter, as due to mass effect 2’s shitty writing, Shepard basically forgets he’s a spectre anyways (except for thanes loyalty mission)
Then finally in Mass Effect 3, if you already got reinstated, you get told the Council has decided to uphold your status. Well thank you….I’m glad you guys are back to your old “fucking over innocents is cool” beliefs…cause you know, I basically wiped out an entire star system of innocents in ME2’s Arrival.
This is actually even worse if you didnt get the Spectre status reinstated before, as it gets reinstated now.....after blowing up the Alpha Relay in arrival. So yea, if you killed the council you didnt get your status back....but it instead was a "reward" for mass murder, because in ME3 I guess they couldnt afford to be picky.
So again: Destroying a star system: Ok by spectre rules in Mass Effect 3
Allowing a single armed WARSHIP to be destroyed, which happens to contain 3 innocents: YOUR OUT OF THE CLUB.
What the fuck? Where is the logic?
In order to make the reading less of a chore, I've split the list. Part 2 (the top 5 things wrong with Mass effect) can be found here.
I am going to start with the stuff I like the least, and within the next couple of days (hopefully tomorrow or late tonight) will have the list up of things I like the best. Normally I would do the Best list first (since I am celebrating the series) but I realized in this case, much of what I like in this series is due to comparisons to what I dislike, and I figured it would didnt have to explain what I didnt like in the post of what I liked if I did the dislike list first. So with that in mind...here we go
This list will run from 10 (thing I disliked the least) to 1 (worst thing ever)
10. Saren's appearance. Mass Effect
Alright so this is a small thing, but one that bugged the fuck out of me during Mass Effect. During the whole run of the game Saren appears to be half cyborg….and no one ever comments on it or talks about it. Until near the end of the game, when Saren mentions he’s been “upgraded” by Sovereign (and as an implied result fully indoctrinated) and made a organic/inorganic hybrid.
The thing is…..he looks EXACTLY the same as he always did in the game. Yet according to the dialogue hes supposed to have been visibly changed. Near as I can tell, his “usual” appearance was likely supposed to be his “end game appearance” (at least before he gets fully teched in the very last battle). Meaning he wasn’t supposed to look like a cyborg prior to this.
But for whatever reason, graphical constraints, bugs ect…his “end game” appearance got used for every appearance in the game. Whatever the reason its is kinda obnoxious since it means the game’s visuals don’t match the story, and also it leaves a visual plot hole/spoiler that didn’t make sense
9. Admiral Anderson/Counselor Udina Mass Effect 3
Another actually small issue here. Mass effect is supposed to be all about the lasting consequences of your choices.
Yet here we are, minutes into mass effect 3, and they already undid to final choice of mass effect 1 (assuming you, like most people, chose Anderson. And as a side note, even renegades really have no reason to put Udina on there, since they likely want payback for him stabbing them in the back just prior to the end of the game)….and its NEVER addressed in the game (well except for a single sentence in Anderson’s codex entry….but you have to actually READ the codex to find that…something that most people who imported a save likely wouldn’t need to do).
And the worst part is, it didn’t have to be done, and arguably hurt the game’s plot because it was.
Ok so in the real world a lot of political figures hold military equivalency ranks, meaning their position is treated as X rank by the military same could be true here. It’s not at all unbelievable that a Galactic Counselor holds the rank of Admiral. Furthermore in Andersons case as a legit war hero, its believable people would treat it seriously if he used the rank.
Finally, having a Counselor trapped on Earth would give the other council races much more motivation for helping take earth back (over say any other world) then is ever given in the game.
And heck, it actually makes more sense for Ambassador Udina to ally with Cerberus, figuring he can use the chaos of the coup to take Andersons spot on the council (especially if he believes hes supposed to “save” the council and isn’t aware the assassination attempt is real), and thereby gain power, than it ever did for Counselor Udina to do it.
But you know, I guess destroying your final choice in ME1 was easier than adding to the 2 lines of dialogue that might be needed to explain why everyone would be referring to Counselor Anderson as Admiral
8. Planet scanning. Mass Effect 2
Anyone who’s played Mass Effect 2 already agrees with me on this one. NO ONE liked having to scan the planets…and even if you fully scanned and probed all of them, you couldn’t even do jack shit with the minerals you got after building the few upgrades that needed them (and you could mine enough minerals to cover that in just a few systems). Total and utter waste of time.
7. Timeline. Mass Effect Series
So this is kind of a structural problem throughout mass effect . Bioware didn’t actually give themselves enough time in their own time line for anything to really make sense the way they wanted it to.
Consider, its been less than 40 years since humanities first contact to the start of Mass Effect 1.
Put another way….its been less than 1 Salarian lifetime (to say nothing of say Asari or Krogan lifespan comparisons).
So actually it kinda makes sense why all the other species think humanity is uppity for demanding a counsel spot…we just got here. And hell, we are also one of the least technologically developed species in the universe….all the tech in the game was based on tech by other species. So yea, when they really distain us in ME1 for being arrogant….they have a damn point.
Which is also odd, since almost every single human character acts like they have been comfortable with using this tech, and with being in space their entire lives. Consider for example, who apparently was able to found a mercenary gang that basically runs half the crime in space…and the gang was able to achieve this on what would have basically been our first day in space.
Ditto guys like Anderson and Hackett…who both seem to have no issue or memory of a time when aliens weren’t always there. Or well pretty much everyone, as it appears everyone has a omitool and translator embedded in their skins from birth…..apparently all humans accepted that instantly. Not to mention some other issues. For example, Shepard was born 3 years before the First Contact war, and just 4 years after the discovery of the Mass Relays……which makes things a bit odd if your background was Spacer or Colonist…its not believable that either would exist that fast.
Speaking of humans spreading…..how the fuck did they get EVERYWHERE that fast. You never visit a planet that doesn’t have a lot of humans on it at any point in the games.
Consider, the time between first contact and mass effect 1, is roughly the same as the time between the invention of the internet and the present day. In the present day, something like 15% of americans don’t have internet access.
yet somehow in that same time frame we have fucking colonized everything in space?
Honestly this is a just a bit too much of a stretch. Bioware would have been much better served to have added a few centuries between first contact and ME1. Humanity still would have been the galactic newcomers but the idea of everything accepting a multi race galaxy as the way it has always been…and the spread of humanity to fucking everywhere, would have made more sense
6. Loss/refusal of full spectre reinstatement. Mass Effect 2
Alright so in Mass Effect 2 you can choose to attempt to have your spectre status reinstanted….and you can possibly fail depending on the choices you made.
Problem is, this kinda makes no sense. Consider the other known specters in the game. Saren and Nihlus both are revealed to have intentionally created situations in which they placed innocents at risk and/or killed them to complete a mission. Hell the first ever Spectre was picked because he was a mass murders. Then Lair of the Shadow Broker introduces Tela Vasir, who is basically a Spectre who is semi openly working as an assassin for hire for the shadow broker…and kills a bunch of innocent people.
Yet my spectre status isn’t reinstated because I may have decided to conserve my fleet strength to attack Sovereign….even though doing so sacrificed the innocent member’s of the council?
WHAT? I basically did EXACTLY what every other spectre did….this makes NO SENSE at all.
Like I would get it if the whole “being dead” thing was the hang up…its not.
And even if you get reinstated, it doesn’t seem to matter, as due to mass effect 2’s shitty writing, Shepard basically forgets he’s a spectre anyways (except for thanes loyalty mission)
Then finally in Mass Effect 3, if you already got reinstated, you get told the Council has decided to uphold your status. Well thank you….I’m glad you guys are back to your old “fucking over innocents is cool” beliefs…cause you know, I basically wiped out an entire star system of innocents in ME2’s Arrival.
This is actually even worse if you didnt get the Spectre status reinstated before, as it gets reinstated now.....after blowing up the Alpha Relay in arrival. So yea, if you killed the council you didnt get your status back....but it instead was a "reward" for mass murder, because in ME3 I guess they couldnt afford to be picky.
So again: Destroying a star system: Ok by spectre rules in Mass Effect 3
Allowing a single armed WARSHIP to be destroyed, which happens to contain 3 innocents: YOUR OUT OF THE CLUB.
What the fuck? Where is the logic?
In order to make the reading less of a chore, I've split the list. Part 2 (the top 5 things wrong with Mass effect) can be found here.
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